O.C. Residents Want Maya Angelou Memoir Banned

By: EURweb.com

Some residents of Orange County, Calif. are trying to remove Maya Angelou's classic memoir "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" from school libraries in Huntington Beach, claiming it is inappropriate for children.



A scene from a book that depicts the rape of an eight-year-old girl was read aloud Monday night during the Huntington Beach City Council meeting.



"I'm not happy to read this, I'm not proud to read this," said Huntington Beach resident Judy Ahrens, according to KABC. "It's very uncomfortable to read it, but we have to do things that aren't comfortable for the sake of our kids."       



The protesters say they're upset the book can be found in school libraries in four separate school districts.       

O.C. Residents Want Maya Angelou Memoir Banned....

First Black Female Top Legislator Sworn In

By: Samantha Young, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - (AP) California on Tuesday installed the nation's first black female legislative leader, swearing in Los Angeles Democrat Karen Bass as speaker of the state Assembly.

Bass said at the ceremony that she feels the weight of history on her shoulders.

"If we could only harness the power of our common humanity, I don't think there's anything we couldn't do for the people of this state," she said.

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'MARSHALL PLAN' PROPOSED FOR SAN FRANCISCO

The problem can be stated relatively simply: Over the past 25 years, San Francisco, California has lost more than half of its Black population.

The number of African Americans living in one of the nation's most expensive cities has fallen from more than 100,000 in 1980 to around 50,000 today. The question confronting Black leaders and city official is what can be done to reverse the trend?

One of the city's most influential pastors, Rev. Amos Brown, thinks he knows the answer: a Marshal Plan to aid the city's remaining Blacks and lure more African Americans as residents.

The "Marshal Plan" idea refers to the massive economic effort launched by the United States in the 1940s and 1950s to help Europe recover from the devastating effects of World War II.

Brown says the issue is simple and direct: "If San Francisco is serious about making amends for what's been done against Black people, they need to put their money where their mouth is." Brown is a leading member of the African American Out-Migration Task Force - a group set up by Mayor Gavin Newsom to study the problem of the massive lost of Black population. Nevertheless, there remains serious doubt as to whether the city will finance the type of economic program needed to stem the lost of Blacks.